I don’t have any hard statistics either, but I believe that the answer will be “way more than will admit it”. Or even, “a lot”.

I think that people (including republicans) will say one thing to a pollster or to make a point on the evening news, and do just the opposite when it comes to their own health care and getting government money.

Remember that a couple of years ago, when the ACA was just getting started, there were republicans saying “we hate obama care because it’s the government”, and then they went right down to the Medicare office and get their benefits increased. There was this disconnect that Medicare is a government program in and of itself.

So I would cast doubt on any poll or count that purports to say how many republicans did this or that—because there’s a good chance that the answers aren’t honest.

The first person I knew personally to sign up for it is a Republican, and had been staunchly opposed to the ACA. Until she found out she had Stage IV cancer and would need the ACA to try to save her life.

Given the changes that have happened in the insurance industry as a result of the ACA, I have to agree with @bolwerk, and also include anybody who was previously insured but had their coverage and/or premiums changed. So I would say, “All who didn’t drop their insurance to protest the ACA” signed up, whether by getting coverage they were previously ineligible for, or merely agreeing to the change in terms/conditions of their existing plan and continuing their coverage.

I asked something similar on Facebook and a friend of mine said Republicans who are on it because their nsurance was cancelled because of ACA are not happy participants. They feel like the government took away their chosen insurance and also some had to change doctors. I guess we will see if they wind up liking the ACA coverage better in the end. Having to switch doctors is never fun though.

@jerv: in fact, if you want to follow that to its logical conclusion, the people who pay the penalty are participating in “ObamaCare” too. That might be a lot of Republikans, if @KNOWITALL is right!

@JLeslie: well, they should have leaned on their Republikan representatives to push for more choice. Republikans were willing participants in the flaws of ObamaCare. They hoped that, if they created a flawed system, it would be easier to repeal.

Anyway, ObamaCare mostly just adjusted existing programs and regulations to close the healthcare gap. There is no one program called “ObamaCare.”

@KNOWITALL: I’d be rather surprised if, on the aggregate, Republikans weren’t more dependent than Democrats on Medicaid (which some states have turned into a state-funded private insurance program now).

My brother is a staunch right wing republican (Wall Street). His wife reads the bible in restaurants before anyone can eat. They loved ACA when it was first put through because it was “A Republican success story in Massachusetts and came out of a Republican Think Tank” and Obama was forced to accept a Republican solution.

Then as the tide turned with the mid term elections they started screaming “Obamacare” and “Socialism.” But they signed up the family immediately and I had to hear complaints about the uselessness of the website. My bro admitted he would paying less for essentially the same policy had before.

@KNOWITALL: they still have a right to play by the rules, and if they need care that’s probably the way to get it if they’re anywhere under “middle-middle class.” Card-carrying partisans are probably generally wealthier in both parties, but the natural voter base of the GOP is probably just poorer in a lot of cases.

@non_omnis_moriar: if he literally works on Wall Street, he would not have used the web site. NYS and I think NJ and Connecticut all have their own exchanges. Not sure about Pennsylvania, but that’s already on the extreme side of commuting to Wall Street.

@KNOWITALL“That goes against what the party stands for, so I’m skeptical.”

Large government also goes against what the party “stands for”, yet a Republican president ushered in one of the most expansive government agencies in US history. You’ll find that often what a party claims to stand for and what they actually do are poles apart.

@KNOWITALL Be skeptical then (I love being skeptical myself), but ponder this for a moment.

Republican-led states have higher poverty and unemployment rates, lower wages, and thus more need for government assistance, leading to a need for both more government workers and more revenue required (higher taxes). Now, those that go against the policies that Republicans support tend to give more money to the Feds than they get in federal aid, and not have so many on unemployment, welfare, or Medicaid. So, either the Republican voter base is voting against their own self-interest, they are lying, or they are actually only Republicans because we’re in a two-party system and they’re not Democrats. (My money is on that last one; I know a lot of Independents that lean a bit but don’t actually fully buy into either party’s rhetoric.)

Regardless, the ACA started out as a Right-wing idea, and was first implemented by a Republican governor, so I would imagine that it’d be rather popular amongst Conservatives, especially those who believe that competitive free markets are a good thing.

Many of the people who vote GOP who are otherwise eligible for Medicaid might be on Medicare. Regardless, participation of such voters in Medicaid is certainly non-zero is and very likely higher than other voting groups.

@KNOWITALL: I don’t like relying on anecdotes period, but I think in this case any personal observations you make very likely to be have terrible reliability problems. For instance:

1) personal finances are already a deeply, well, personal thing for most people. Most people don’t like talking about their income, certainly not in any detail.

2) you are talking about the population that is least likely to admit to depending on government programs, I would think. They might be ashamed.

3) that population may not be aware of it of what government assistance they do get (e.g., earned income tax credit) or may not think of them as assistance.

4) they are pretty likely to rationalize whatever benefits/assisstance they consume as something they “earned.” Someone collecting food stamps will probably look down at someone collecting cash assistance. They might view Medicare as something they earn, while thumbing their nose at Medicaid.

Meanwhile, the ACA is a mix of a lot of different programs. It’s probably fair to say at this point, if you have insurance, the ACA has affected you.

bolwerk wrote: @non_omnis_moriar: if he literally works on Wall Street, he would not have used the web site. NYS and I think NJ and Connecticut all have their own exchanges. Not sure about Pennsylvania, but that’s already on the extreme side of commuting to Wa worll Street.

You must NOT be very familiar with the concept of working in NYC. People travel into the city from multiple states and many work for major banks etc. from home.

My brother owns his own business which is focused on Wall Street business.

He bitched about the website like a good teabagger but he could have signed up from any source – I didn’t ask. He’s covered, his family is covered, he’s paying less and still bitching about a system that helped him.

@non_omnis_moriar: (1) I live in New York City, and have contributed to more than one transpo research project regarding exactly that topic. Believe me, I understand commuting patterns to New York in a detail that would make your pee-pee shrink from mental exhaustion. (2) I mentioned the pretty much all the states people could conceivably commute from in my answer. I thought NJ had its own exchange, but it does not. :(

However, if he works in NY and lives in NJ, he might still use New York’s exchange because of an odd bi-state compact with regard to taxes. Not sure about that though. Bitching about the web site sounds suspiciously like a right-wing meme, which is why I mentioned it.

Bolwerk “Bitching about the web site sounds suspiciously like a right-wing meme, ”

What an asshole. I answered the f’n question. Plenty plenty Republicans, libertarians, tea-baggers and probably neo-Nazi’s are taking advantage of ACA.

I also live in a state that provided no exchange. I know plenty of Republicans who are signed up. It’s not welfare as the Koch Bros et al would have us believe. It’s a marketplace program and simply makes sure I don’t lose my house if I get cancer. I have insurance.

@non_omnis_moriar – I’m with you on that. Here in Georgia, the red-state-hate-republicans wouldn’t let anything get passed that even remotely was close to Obamacare.

So plenty of people, including some white-republican-churchgoing rednecks of my acquaintance, signed up through the national web site.

And there are plenty of people below the poverty line that are getting coverage too, with no help from the governor, who – not coincidentally – is running for reelection this fall.

We have a bunch of winners here running for senate as well—a congressman who doesn’t believe in evolution (Broun), and a flaming airhead who practically destroyed the Susan Komen breast cancer fund by politicizing it (Handel)

Republican congressional candidates claim the health care law puts the government between you and your doctor.

But the law boosts private insurance, and it doesn’t create a government-run system.

Affordable Care Act doesn’t create a government-run system, in which the government provides health insurance, or care, to residents.

It does expand Medicaid, and also boosts business for private insurers, by about 12 million customers over the next decade, and leaves intact work-based insurance on which most Americans have long relied.

@non_omnis_moriar Don’t bring facts into this. If the talking heads at Fox News say it’s a government run system, then nothing will convince Conservatives otherwise, not even a retraction from Fox News as such a reversal of position is “obviously” due to Liberal extortion. And if any of the Right-leaning Moderates here wish to refute this assertion, please save yourself the effort and use that energy to put a leash and muzzle on your rabid brethren instead.

I think that’s impossible to answer exactly. They didn’t ask what your political affiliation is when you enrolled. You got a bunch of choices of insurance companies and each company had a list of different plans from Platinum to Bronze to choose from.

But its silly to think that republicans didn’t sign up. What people do privately and what they say are typically very different.

I feel sorry for the poor bastards who need insurance in states like Indiana where the republicans made it against the law for any agency to answer people’s questions about what ACA covered or how to apply. They were on their own.

Seems like people who need help most were denied assistance and that has to eventually change as they discover it isn’t a single payer system at all. And that’s tough when you will only listen to one sided news. KEEP EM IGNORANT AND WE’LL MAKE SURE THE INSURANCE COMPANIES can go back to canceling the insurance on those who most need it; democrat, republican, libertarian—we all die.